Prohibited from answering questions directly about an Anthony Davis trade to the Wizards that was not yet official, Mavs coach Jason Kidd made it clear that a team building around Cooper Flagg can have a bright future. And in the very near future, too.
Make no mistake, the best thing that Mavericks interim GM Mark Riccardi did in sending Davis to Washington in a multi-player deal before the league’s trade deadline was clear cap room. Get excited about the players at your own risk.
Three are in the final year of their deals so their future here is as “expiring contracts,” not role players. Guard A.J. Johnson might be a nice addition to the rotation as Max Christie was in the last Davis trade that was not so popular in these parts. And the picks Dallas receives should best be viewed as five second-rounders, given that, along with three true second-round picks, Dallas is getting Oklahoma City’s first in June (likely between 28 and 30) and a Golden State pick that is top-20 protected in 2030.
The Mavericks get almost $70 million in cap relief for next season. That’s all you get for an injured Davis these days, although Washington plans to take a big jump next season with the former Mav and Trae Young leading young players Alex Sarr, Lake Highlands’ Tre Johnson and this summer’s lottery pick into the future.
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In fact, the Wizards and Mavs might be starting on equal footing this summer, although Dallas no longer has to count games between Davis’ injuries. Flagg, who just captured his third straight Western Conference rookie of the month award, has been scorching opponents of late. This is despite the fact that he turned 19 six weeks ago. He scored 49 against Charlotte the night the Mavs retired Mark Aguirre’s jersey, struck for 34 against Houston and then 36 against Boston in the last week before Thursday’s game with the Spurs.
“The bigger the stage, the bigger the light, the bigger game he has,” Kidd said. “He’s born to do this at a high level and he’s born to win. He wants to win. The 49 and the 36, they have L’s behind them. He wants to change that.”
Dallas had lost five in a row before facing the Spurs short-handed Thursday following the deal with the Wizards. But a team that sorely needs to get into the lottery one more time while it still can — the Mavericks do not control their first-round picks for the next four years after this season — isn’t about winning games, not right now, anyway. The team hit the trade deadline 3 1/2 games behind Portland for the 10th and final play-in spot.
How quickly the Mavs can become a team that wins, say, half its games with Flagg as the centerpiece depends upon how things go this summer with money to spend for a change. It depends upon how Kyrie Irving returns from a long absence as a 34-year-old acrobatic point guard. It depends upon what kind of veterans this club can spread around Flagg — “spread” being the optimum word in opening up the floor for the creative teenager — but there are reasons to think this thing can happen quickly enough.
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg hangs on the rim after dunking between Boston Celtics’ Baylor Scheierman (55) and Jaylen Brown (7) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez / AP
Flagg‘s game against Boston, even in a home defeat, encouraged Kidd the most. “With (Jaylen) Brown and (Derrick) White, they just threw everyone at him. He took the challenge, raised the bar,” Kidd said.
The Mavericks have tried twice in recent years to bring in a good scoring big man as a No. 2. And they have failed twice. In 2019, it was Kristaps Porzingis arriving from the Knicks (already injured, we should have paid more attention to that) to support rookie Luka Doncic. The Mavs didn’t get out of the first round against the Clippers with that combination. Doncic was young and Porzingis was too often missing in action.
Then came Davis to support Irving in the big Luka trade, and that deal has been rehashed enough of late as it just passed the one-year anniversary. If you can call it that. So now there is Flagg and there are an odd mix of scorers and defenders who will play hard for the next two months while — most likely — avoiding the play-in games in the Western Conference.
This season is a wash, the second straight for Dallas fans to endure. Next season won’t be championship level, but it’s entirely possible a very different team built around the increasingly All-Star-like Flagg can fight its way to the bottom of the playoff picture. That door has been opened, and that’s all that happened this week despite a massive amount of players and contracts and picks shuffling back and forth between two cities.
Hoping for the best from Davis is a Wizards’ problem now. Dallas is back on the lookout for a No. 2 to play with Flagg, and unless you’re counting on Irving at the close of his career being that player, the platform is wide open.
Mavericks fulfill trade deadline goals with salary dump, draft picks and point guard help
After an “honest look” in the mirror, the Mavs began the process of reconstructing their roster around 19-year-old Cooper Flagg.
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